I am hoping to chronicle some basic sub-frame steps for my 50 Chevy Coupe. Maybe it will be a resource for somebody like me down the road. I have seen some M2 projects for 49-54 Chevys, but not sub-frame stuff...so I will start with this... 1st we located a pre-94 s10...$150 for whole truck...next we stripped the front sheet metal off the 50 and pulled the motor and trans...then we pulled the front sheet metal off the s10. Back to the 50, wheelbase is 115in...write down that number Today we built a jig that will hold the location of the core support for us on the 50 after we cut out the frame. Doing this will guarantee the front sheet metal hangs back in its natural position.
No pics, but finally back at it! Easter Sunday we got the S10 motor out and the s10 in the shop. We put small block and ****** in it to get ride height, then welded some tubing from A arm to frame to hold the height. Took the small block and tran out and cut the front clip off the s10. Time to clean up the clip and get it sandblasted. Great to be back at it!
Started clean-up this week. We gave the remains of the S10 to a friend who had a roll-back. Began 'de-gunking' the S10 clip before sending to the sandblaster. Made some critical measurements including caster so we can make this thing go straight and stop in the end .
Nice start. There are several pics in my album showing a Mid 80's S-10 front clip that went into our 51 Fleetline. There is also a pic or two of the frame splice between the original mid section of the frame and the S-10 clip. It was a lot of work but well worth the time and effort... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/album.php?albumid=1403
Set the ride height...recorded a bunch of measurements. Looks like there will be a few issues with the s10 clip. The power steering box is gonna be way up in the front (right behind the grill). We will have to use a short radiator as the s10 clip is real narrow in the very front. Finally we will have to do a lot of mock up to get the sheet metal in the right place as the old core support won't fit. We braced up the frame and cut the old front clip off. When we rolled up the s10 clip, it matched up perfect! So it looks like the steering and suspension geometry will be great. I should get some pics up today...I really want to show the hack job somebody did on the orig. front clip.
A 19" mopar A-body rad fits nice. And you can cut the spash pan to fit the steering box. It will all be hidden behind the grill.
Thanks Rick. I knew someone must have encountered the same obstacles. As I move forward, I may need you as a resource. U-da-man!
We are making some progress. Clip is blasted and primed. I went ahead and painted the sides and bottom too, but left the top primed as I am sure I will abuse the hell out of it during the build You can see our orig. jig for locating the core support won't work due to the S10 PS box, cross member and height. We trimmed the splash apron, inner fender panels, and after bracing it, we mounted the old core support upside down to get the width right. There will still be some experimenting in getting the front sheet metal hung right, but this will give us a starting point. As of now, we have beefed up the stock frame by putting som 2x4 steel tubing inside the top-hat frame (I will get some pics). Finally, check out the hack job on the orig. front clip!
One problem I had with my '51 subframe job was that; after I tacked the new sub in place inside the 51 frame, (I slid the whole Nova sub into the 51 frame.), I didn't like the way it looked at the original wheelbase length. The front wheels were too far forward in the openings. To me, that looks like the car just has broken springs or something. I liked it much better after I shortened the wheelbase about 1" or 1-1/2". I don't remember which.
After being out of town for 2 weeks, more progress has been made. We have the clip tacked on and are beginning to make some 'fish plates' to make the connection more solid. I have been terrible with taking picks, but I will get some today. We put some 2x3 tubing about 12 inches long into the orig. frame. We welded it in place with rosette welds and some along the bottom sides where we cut out a little of the bottom of the 'hat'. We are 're-shaping' the s10 frame to get more area to weld the 2 together. This thing will be solid. Dad's clip job on his '47 is 16 years and about 150K miles old, we plan for this one to hold up just as well. Unfortunately, I am finally spending some real money on this project. I picked up a s10 4x4 rear (3.42) yesterday for $250 and it looks like I will be dropping close to $500 on the whole leaf spring kit for the rear soon.
The front clip is on. Still need to cleanup welds and then weld the bottom. Just got the rear end kit from Ch***is Eng. yesterday. I figured since we did so much fabricating on the front and spent less than $300, I would buy the plug n' play kit instead of getting creative out back. We are shooting for having a roller by the end of August!
I like the idea of putting the motor/trans into the S-10 and welding the suspension up to set ride height. I have never seen this before, yet it is a perfectly simple method of getting this right. The frame graft looks good too. Good work.
No pics but we finaly got back down on all fours. The Ch***is Engineering leaf spring kit went in perfectly! Drilling out the holes was the worst of it. They reccomended not welding, but if I had to do it again I would just weld it. We lost a ton of time in drilling out the holes. Its nice to have a brand new rear and front end. Up next we will begin to mock up the motor and ******!
Rly liking this project, Great reference for when I start with my front end. Sweet solution to the ride height too... Thanks for taking the time to do***ent it!
Been a long time... We have been getting a good bit done though: -The floor mount master cyl/pedal ***embly is in. -Trans. cross member has been fab'd and tacked in. -Dad has engineered and fab'd a core support that is adjustable 2 dimnesionally so we can get the front sheetmetal exact and support the radiator. -Bought the radiator. The only one that would fit is a Corvette type that is made for s10 v8 conversion. Went ahead and got an aluminim one with dual fans since the rad. is going to sit too high to run a mechanical fan. -Cut out the firewall. Sectioned a wheel-barrow so we have nice curves in the recess. We are averaging about 10 hrs. a week. I am hoping to get more in during T-day break and Christmas...will have to to make it FL Billetproof!
Finally back to the 50'. The firewall is pretty much done and ready for plastic. Spent Saturday building a floor...progress feels great! Maybe next years Billetproof ...If this ain't ready I will drive the 55' (nice to have that option now).
A little more progress. Dad did some work while I was gone and we got to work the last 2 days. He got the floor tacked in and lower firewall rust re-placed. I finished the drivers side. We got it grinded down and stripped back to the doors and windshield after these pics.
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